7. John Cabot, 1497.
7.約翰·卡伯特(1497年)
While Columbus explored the West Indies, another Italian sailed across the Sea of Darkness farther north. His name was John Cabot, and he sailed with a license from Henry VII of England, the first of the Tudor kings. Setting boldly forth from Bristol, England, he crossed the North Atlantic and reached the coast of America north of Nova Scotia. Like Columbus, he thought that he had found the country of the Grand Khan. Upon his discovery English kings based their claim to the right to colonize North America.
在哥倫布到印度西部探險的同時,另一個意大利人穿過黑海北上,他的名字叫約翰·卡伯特,此人帶著英國都鋒王朝第一個國王亨利七世簽發的通行證航海,他大膽地從英國西部的布里斯托爾海港出發,穿過北大西洋,到達諾瓦斯科夏北部美洲海岸。如哥倫布一樣,約翰·卡伯特認為他發現的是忽必烈的國家,根據約翰·卡伯特的發現,英國國王宣稱自己對北美洲的殖民統治權。
8. The Naming of America.
8.美洲的命名
Many other explorers also visited the new-found lands. Among these was an Italian named Americus Vespucius. Precisely where he went is not clear. But it is clear that he wrote accounts of his voyages, which were printed and read by many persons. In these accounts he said that what we call South America was not a part of Asia. So he named it the New World. Columbus all the time was declaring that the lands he had found were a part of Asia. It was natural, therefore, that people in thinking of the New World should think of Americus Vespucius. Before long some one even suggested that the New World should be named America in his honor. This was done, and when it became certain that the other lands were not parts of Asia, the name America was given to them also until the whole continent came to be called America.
還有許多探險者也到過新發現的這些大陸,其中就有意大利人阿美利哥·維斯普奇。他到了哪里并不十分清楚,但是,很顯然他寫了一些關于航海的日志,日志被印刷出來后,有許多人讀過。在這些日志中,阿美利哥·維斯普奇認為人們所謂的南美洲不是亞洲的一部分,他因此把這個地方命名為“新世界”。哥倫布一直認為自己發現的那些陸地是亞洲的一部分。因此,自然人們在想起“新世界”時應該想到阿美利哥·維斯普奇。之后不久,甚至有人建議應該把這個“新世界”叫做美洲以紀念他。人們接受了這個建議,并且,當確切知道另外一些陸地不是亞洲的構成部分時,人們用美洲來命名這些陸地,這樣一直延續到整個大陸被叫做美洲。
9. Balboa and Magellan, 1513, 1520.
9.巴波亞和麥哲倫(1513年,1520年)
Balboa was a Spaniard who came to San Domingo to seek his fortune. He became a pauper and fled away from those to whom he owed money. After long wanderings he found himself on a high mountain in the center of the Isthmus of Panama. To the southward sparkled the waters of a new sea. He called it the South Sea. Wading into it waist deep, he waved his sword in the air and took possession of it for his royal master, the King of Spain. This was in 1513. Seven years later, in 1520, Magellan, a Portuguese seaman in the service of the Spanish king, sailed through the Straits of Magellan and entered the same great ocean, which he called the Pacific. Thence northward and westward he sailed day after day, week after week, and month after month, until he reached the Philippine Islands. The natives killed Magellan. But one of his vessels found her way back to Spain around the Cape of Good Hope.
巴波亞是一個到圣多明各淘金的西班牙人,他變成一個窮人,并且在債主的催逼下離開了圣多明各,在長途跋涉之后,巴波亞發現自己在巴拿馬海峽當中的一座高山上,往南看是一片波濤洶涌的新海洋,他把它叫做南海,并向縱深處跋涉,他向空中揮舞他的寶劍,為他效忠的西班牙國王獲得這片新領地。這一年是1513年。7年后,在1520年,葡萄牙水手麥哲倫在西班牙國王的支持下穿過麥哲倫海峽進入這一片海洋,他把它叫做太平洋。麥哲倫轉而向西、向北航行,日復一日,累周不息,經過數月航行他最終到達菲律賓群島,島上的人殺死了麥哲倫,但是,他的一條船繞過好望角逃回了西班牙。